[SOLVED] Does Fedora 13's GUI Software manager work at all?

theKbStockpiler · 10-18-2010, 06:10 PM

I installed Fedora 13 to see what else is out there and The Package Manager has been a joke. I even tried to update it by

"su -yum clean all
yum update"

After is updated it's data list it seemed to work fine then it crashed and it won't react to anything now. Has anyone else tried the GUI interface for Software?

RockDoctor · 10-19-2010, 10:50 AM

Which package manager did you use? I never had problems with PackageKit or yum. However, I normally delete PackageKit and install yumex and synaptic; yumex because it's a GUI for yum, and synaptic because I like the interface more than I like yumex's. The only problem with synaptic is that there are fewer repos.

x-nc · 10-19-2010, 12:14 PM

FWIW I have both PackageKit and yumex installed and they have no problems coexisting. I don't use any of the GUI tools, though, because it's faster and easier for me to just use yum from the commandline.

As to you problem with upgrades not cooperating, sometimes, if rpm crashes for some reason, it may leave behind some intermediary files that start with "__db." which make it hang. I did a little script a couple of years ago to kick rpm.

Code:

if [ !`ls /var/lib/rpm/__db.* 2>&1>/dev/null ; echo $?` ]; then
   ls -l /var/lib/rpm/__db.*;
   rm /var/lib/rpm/__db.*;
else
   echo "no files to clean";
fi

Hope this helps.

beetleman64 · 10-19-2010, 02:41 PM

While I'd be lying if I said I liked PackageKit, I have never had any problems with it and it gets the job done. Assuming you are talking about PackageKit then I'd suggest filing a bug report to the Fedora Developers, although yours seems to be an isolated incident.

John VV · 10-19-2010, 03:47 PM

you are talking about "package kit"?? the "add and remove software"

never liked it
But i NEVER had a problem with it ether
take that back there was a python issue once that killed that along with most of the gnome desktop ( forced to use KDE for a bit)

yumex is a good gui ?
but seriously why do you need a gui for this ?
yum is more than enough , to do anything you want

#######
yum search ???
yum provides */something.so -- VERY HANDY
yum grouplist
yum groupinstall
yum update
yum ... etc.....

RockDoctor · 10-19-2010, 04:17 PM

Who said yumex is a good gui? I find it very useful when I want to do a partial upgrade and don't want to type out all of the included (or excluded) packages.

And 640K ought to be enough for anyone

theKbStockpiler · 10-20-2010, 11:54 PM

I wanted to try another distro on my multi booter and Fedora 13 was it. I tried to find the proper name for Fedora's Urpmi and I believe it is Just " Package Manager". It was all messed up. I think it was locking the data base even. After a huge update it is mostly functional.

I understand why people want to make their own distro now. Mandriva 08 lets you configure Urpmi from the same application like the mirrors and so on. It lets you search the descriptions of the package for words Like "downloader". So if you have never heard of GWget and can't find it on the Web it does not matter. Mandriva 10's Urpmi is slimmed down and does not offer this function as well as Fedora 13. A step backwards in my opinion.If you have a GUI application that allows you to configure it, it is easier to learn how it works.

The printer installer is also working like hell! I have installed the same printer twice and it won't print on the second time around. I have a Brother HL 6050d and it works fine on Mandriva 10 with about the same GUI installer. Mandriva must emulate Fedora in someways and this is one of them. The Package Installer was so bad I was wondering if the whole application just did not work. So now I know it does work but only after a huge update. Fedora 13 has been too troublesome and time consuming so I'm going to look into some other distros.

Thanks for the replies.

John VV · 10-21-2010, 12:16 AM

with fedora there is 0 ZERO none / nada proprietary software
so it will not ship with drivers from the hardware manufactures ( unless they ARE gpl )

most fedora users use the terminal
i used it for 99+% of software installs , uninstalls and updates

and yum in the terminal is very easy to learn

Code:

yum --help
-- and --
man yum